Engineering Student Motivation and Perceived Metacognition in Learning Communities

The effect of living-learning communities on students' motivation in engineering and their perceived use of metacognitive strategies were evaluated for first year engineering students using quantitative methods. There were two living-learning communities studied: an honors community and a science and engineering community. Students in both communities were enrolled in specific sections of an introductory engineering course designated for them. Students were surveyed at the beginning and end of their first semester on campus while enrolled in the course. The survey used was assessed for construct validity using a series of factor analyses. There were several distinctions between the motivational profiles of students' based on course section type (honors community, science and engineering community, and non-restricted sections of the course). The honors community seems to be attracting their targeted group of students, as students with higher mastery orientation and higher perceptions of their knowledge of cognition. Students in the science and engineering community were not significantly different than those in the non-restricted sections of the course at the beginning of the semester, but did have higher expectancies of success in their engineering course at the end of the semester.